Black Friday

Shopping happened yesterday with Beth leaving well before dawn at about 5 AM and us old fogies left about 6 AM after corraling a skittish Mopsy who flew through the open doors to the garage when Jean returned to get a key to the Concord which we had pulled in behind the Cruiser during the snow/ice/snow storm over Thanksgiving day. One bright spot is that she was attracted to the hiding places in the BACK of the garage, not the wide open garage door leading out to the slush/snow covered street.

My quick tour of about 4 stores was completed by 8:30 AM thanks to Beth and Allison taking my few Staples purchases through line (an activity that took =/> 1/2 hour at 6-6:30 AM).

By 9:15 AM I had eaten a second breakfast to fortify the cereal & orange I'd eaten at 5:30 AM and was ready to return a call from the Medical Examiner's office that had come in as we were sitting down to our Thanksgiving Day Supper the night before to enjoy the company of Miss Elizabeth and Jacki - retired physical therapist church friends who were kind enough to join us with a fresh fruit/veggie plate and the best cranberry relish that I have ever eaten and steamed broccoli. This supplemented our chef's (Beth) whipped mashed potatoes, sweet potato souffle (nothing like what it sounds - it is really a dessert item that used 7 LARGE sweet potatoes: can you say "left overs"?), Mock Chicken (an egg/cottage cheese entree that is a Thanksgiving staple here), peas and apple cider (local).

The call (notice that I'm avoiding discussing it?) was a double fatal auto accident that occurred just before noon on Thanksgiving Day. It has been reported in a Channel 6 News article online. What the article does not say is that they have only one son. I could not help think what it must have been like for him to get that knock on his door when the town police came to tell him both parents had died (Ages 59 & 62).

Anyway, at ~3 hours per case, I finished the paperwork just before Sundown at the start of the Sabbath last night. The only really good news in all of this is that the fees that I will get from the State of Maine for two ME exams plus the funeral home's fees for completing the ME release forms comes to $200. The money that I get from my medical examiner work all goes directly to local charities such as our Soup Kitchen, Food Pantry, Homeless Shelter, Free Clinic, etc. This will be a blessing to those in our area in need of services. But at what a cost. It was a melancholic day, for sure.